Ex-trust officials named as witnesses in Ram Mandir donation row chargesheet
A chargesheet filed in the Anti-Corruption Court in Ayodhya has named eight people accused of diverting cash offerings at the Ram Mandir, Ayodhya. It also lists former senior members of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust as prosecution witnesses. Champat Rai, the Trust’s former general secretary, and Anil Kumar Mishra, a former trustee, are among the 133 witnesses listed. Both faced strong public and political scrutiny when the first allegations about mishandling donations appeared.
The chargesheet lists eight accused: Avinash Shukla (also known as Shani), Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava, and Ramashankar Yadav (also known as Tinnu).
All are in judicial custody. Investigators say pilgrims took or hid some of the donated cash during counting inside the temple, before it was sent to the bank. The chargesheet notes 105 such incidents, all recorded by CCTV cameras in the counting area.
Police have recovered about `79.85 lakh from seven of the eight accused. Investigators say they found no cash with Srivastava, who supervised the counting. The investigation also includes thousands of text messages, banking records, property documents, and a forensic audit. Several accused were repeatedly seen on camera removing notes or assisting others. Avinash Shukla is alleged to have been involved in most of the incidents. The police registered the case in late June after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) preliminary inquiry flagged suspected irregularities and Krishna Mohan. A Trust functionary and later its interim general secretary filed a complaint. Rai and Mishra resigned shortly afterwards. Both were questioned about staff roles, donation-collection arrangements and internal controls.
The chargesheet does not list them as accused. Their statements, along with those of Gopal M Nagarkatte (also known as Gopal Rao), a former special invitee to the Trust, explain how offerings were collected, counted, and deposited, and how the alleged problems were discovered.
Investigators say they found no evidence of theft after the counted cash left the temple for deposit at the bank. They also found no problems with the records of over 800 valuable donated items. The chargesheet says the alleged theft happened only in the counting centre. Earlier investigations found procedural problems, such as incomplete frisking of staff, keeping CCTV footage for too short a time, and unauthorised possession of donation box keys. Tinnu Yadav, one of the accused, had worked as Rai’s driver and is said to have had informal influence over internal arrangements.
Several other accused were connected through family or work relations to the counting operation, which used outsourced staff linked to the bank process for temple offerings. The State Government started the first inquiry after the Trust requested it.
The court monitored supervision and filed the voluminous chargesheet, running to tens of thousands of pages, including annexures and case diaries. Listing Rai and Mishra as witnesses rather than accused marks a significant turn in a matter that generated widespread controversy when the allegations first emerged.
Meanwhile, Ram Mandir operations continue under new administrative arrangements as the Ayodhya trial court will hear the criminal case.
